Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Shopping for new glasses can always be a tedious task, at least, that's how I feel about it. I only wear glasses for reading and luckily my prescription doesn't change often. If fact, it hasn't really changed since I was in university, more than ten years ago (ugh, I feel old).

I came across GlassesUSA.com, an online eyeglasses shop and thought I would check it out. They have everything from designer frames to sunglasses. There is something to fit every budget.

They even offer fashion frames. This means you can get your favourite eyeglass or sun glass frames without an rX. Simply click the "frames only" button and enter 00-Plano where the prescription would go; and voilà, a new pair of fun glasses to smarten any ensemble.

On my first visit, I was confused by the website a little. You see, I selected a category of frames to look at; but, the page didn't appear to change at all. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized, you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the category of frames you're looking for. Once I figured this out, the site was very easy to navigate.

I think the virtual mirror option on GlassesUSA.com is very cool. This allows you to take a photo using your computer's camera and then "try on" the frames you like; just like visiting an eyeglass store! I probably spent more time than I should have playing with this particular feature!

After an extensive search through the many frames available, I decided I was going to purchase a pair of non-prescription sunglasses. I don't really need new reading glasses as I just replaced the frames last year and you can never have too many pairs of sunglasses, especially with the winter months approaching. There's nothing worse than becoming snow-blind.

I decided upon the Michele style, which luckily for me, were on sale for $69.00, regularly priced at $115.00. That's 40% off! A good deal, if I do say so myself.

I easily added the glasses to my cart and set up my online profile for checkout. The only snag came when I tried to apply a gift card. You see there is no one on the check out page to apply a gift card/certificate.
I ended up contacting customer service via email and was pleasantly surprised when they returned the email within the hour. I was expecting minimum 24 hours before getting a reply. Unfortunately, customer service wasn't much help. They didn't answer my question at all, simply telling me I couldn't use more than one discount code at a time. I responded, thanking them for their prompt reply and addressed the issue that they still hadn't answered my question. I even took a screen shot to send them with the problem I was encountering to ensure they understood the problem. We did manage to get the problem solved and you simply enter the gift card/certificate number in your shopping cart where it says "coupon codes", BEFORE proceeding with the checkout and getting to the payment options page.

Once the gift card problem had been resolved, check out was easy breezy. It was quick, efficient and easily navigated. I placed my order at 8:26am on November 6, and the order shipped on November 9 from Israel and was attempted for delivery to me on November 10! I have to say, I totally wasn't expecting it that quickly. Sadly, I wasn't available to accept the delivery and had to pick up the package from the shipping depot.

My only disappointment is that it isn't noted anywhere on GlassesUSA.com that international shipments may be subject to Duty and/or Tax. While I'm not surprised, it would have been nice to know; there was $7.91 in Duty owning on my shipment.

My overall experience with GlassesUSA.com has been wonderful. Once I worked out the navigation on the site and the snafu with the gift card, everything else just fell into place. I would definitely recommend GlassesUSA.com to anyone looking for new eyeglasses; whether they need prescription glasses or not. The customer service is fast and friendly and even apologetic when they don't answer your question the first time. And the glasses themselves are great. The same sturdy quality I would expect from a small eyeglass boutique with high prices.

I'll definitely be looking at GlassesUSA.com when I need to buy glasses in the future.

I hope you'll check them out too!

DISCLAIMER: I was provided with a gift card towards the purchase of eyeglasses for review by reps at GlassesUSA.com. The words and opinions expressed are solely my own.